Wiley Handbook of Science and Technology for Homeland Security, 4 Volume Set

UNITED NATIONS (UN)

MANUEL SUTER AND ELGIN BRUNNER

Center for Security Studies (CSS), ETH Zurich, Switzerland

1 INTRODUCTION

Issues related to CIIP have been discussed by the United Nations (UN) and its system of organizations since the end of the 1980s. However, formal CIIP efforts are a more recent phenomenon. Several initiatives have since been undertaken towards better work coordination. Among these are initiatives taken by UN institutions, several UN resolutions, and the results of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS).

2 UN INSTITUTE FOR DISARMAMENT RESEARCH (UNIDIR)

An important first step was the organization of a workshop in July 1999 by the UN Institute for Disarmament Research (UNDIR) in Geneva. The main topic was how to better achieve worldwide information security and assurance in a global digital environment. In this context, a variety of issues, such as the Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA) and the proliferation of offensive tools for attacking information systems and networks, were discussed in Geneva. There was consensus among the participants that the vulnerability of national and international information infrastructures to cyber-attacks was increasing, and that international cooperation had to be improved in order to meet this challenge. One other conclusion was that the issue of CIIP is not only of military or strategic importance, but that it is mainly a political, economic, and social issue [1]. Hence, it is crucial to achieve cooperation ...